Beat Down
by RockerPrincess83
Summary: Spoilers from 2x09 Special Education.  AU scene extention of first choir room scene.  If you've seen the episode, you probably know which one I mean  THE scene .  T for violence and language


**a/n: i started this story after special education, but just finished it tonight. i was super pissed with santana and kinda took my frustrations out on her through rachel :D i was so devestated after that episode, my husband said it looked like i went through a break up too. but i think all us finchel shippers did. RM broke all our hearts :( anyway enough rambling from me. i apologize ahead of time to all santana fans, cause if you're one you may want to skip this story. **

**I don't own Glee or any affiliations with it. If I did, Finchel would have never broken up and they would have totally gotten it on by now ;)**

Rachel spent the whole week leading up to Sectionals researching the perfect songs for her and New Directions to perform at Sectionals. She started off with a combination of 50 and managed to work her way down to the perfect 3. She knew she would kill the solo and her and Finn would totally knock their duet out of the park. She could only pray that the club would step up and ace their group number. So as soon as Mr. Schuester walked in the choir room, she decided to inform him of her choices.

"Mr. Schuester, I have an announcement. I've selected the perfect moving ballad for Finn and I to sing to launch our performance at Sectionals." Rachel said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Me first." Mr. Schuester then proceeds to announce that since the competition are traditional stool choirs with limited dancing, in order to beat them, Mike and Brittany will be showcasing their incredible dancing skills. Of course they didn't need to know that he came to that conclusion by the help of a certain red-haired guidance counselor.

"Wait. They're going to dance in front of me while I sing my solo?" Rachel couldn't help think Mr. Schuester finally lost his marbles. What would any respectable show choir judge think if they had a bunch of kids dancing and jumping around in front of their extraordinary soloist? But before she could voice her opinions, Mr. Schuester continued with his announcement.

"You're not getting a solo for this competition Rachel." Surely he must have been joking, at the very least doped up on some sort of hallucinatory drug. Why would you put in the understudy on opening night, when your star performer is extremely capable of performing her duties?

With Kurt gone, Mercedes can only come to the conclusion that with Rachel out of the picture, her rightful place as New Directions soloist should go to her once again, especially since she got robbed of her solo during last year's Sectionals.

"I was thinking that the winners of our duets competition would take the leads." Sam and Quinn couldn't help feel a surge of pride overcome them. Everyone assumed Rachel and Finn would take the leads for the duet, as always. But this time Mr. Schuester entrusted _them_ with the coveted duet, which only helped boost their confidence. But then Rachel had to put her two cents in.

"Ken and Barbie? A-a-arrre you trying to throw this?" _What the hell is going on?_ Rachel had once thought Mr. Schuester was trying to ruin her life one lesson at a time. She eventually came to the conclusion that she _may_ have overreacted, but it's as clear as day now. He was slowly trying to crush her dreams one performance at a time.

Quinn felt like she just came off a sugar high. First Mr. Schuester was giving her and Sam the honor of performing their duet, and then Rachel, ironically, was trying to rain on her parade. She felt like punching Man Hands in the face, so she decided to honestly tell her so.

This day was getting worse and worse for Rachel and it had started out so well. She woke up and did her regularly scheduled morning routine of turning off her alarm, kissing the picture of Finn she had on her night stand, exercising, shower, and then get ready for school until Finn picked her up. He even bought her, her favorite vegan blueberry muffins for breakfast. When did God decide to punish her? Maybe it was after she had some not so innocent fantasies of Finn when he picked her up and she noticed he was wearing her favorite polo. And then Mr. Schuester starts talking about how he wants everyone 'to feel special' and 'showcasing all of their talents' which only solidifies Rachel's theory that he's trying to ruin her career with one of his life lessons mumbo jumbo. Somebody's got to do something. So she nudges her handsome co-captain because he'll be the leader that she believes him to be.

"I'm all for pumping up the team, making everyone feel special, but that's for practice. You don't take the star quarterback out before the big game." Finn was mentally patting himself on the back for that one. After hanging around Rachel that long, you're bound to pick up something useful.

"That's easy to say when you're the star quarterback." Tina couldn't help think Rachel was just rubbing off a little too much on Finn. Either that or he was starting to revert back to his former pre-New Directions Finn. He just sounded a little too stuck up for her tastes.

"This isn't just about me. This is about the team." Finn couldn't help but feel a little animosity coming from Tina. Why fix what isn't broken. He knew him and Rachel were the best at performing duets. You can't fake chemistry like they had. Maybe a small part of him didn't want to give up his time to shine. He did it once with Jesse and now that Sam was gunning for his Quarterback position, he just posts as a double threat. He could totally understand why Rachel sent Sunshine to that crack house a little more.

"You are such a hypocrite." _"Where the hell does he get off?"_ Santana could see right through him. The more time he spent with Yentil, the more he was becoming just like her. She knew it was all about him and his ego.

"Like you even know what that means." Rachel was so tired of Santana's bullshit. Santana has always been a pain in Rachel's ass, but Rachel has been pushed to her breaking point. Since they were in Junior High Santana has been everything Rachel's wanted to be and everything she loathed all at once. She was so pretty, popular, had lots of friends, and dated all these amazing guys. She's also this stuck up, egotistical, selfish, cold-hearted bitch. Rachel's had years of experience dealing with and bottling up all her pent up feelings and aggression towards the ice queen. But over the past couple of weeks, since the Hudson-Hummel wedding, Santana's insults and glaring looks have become much more frequent, if not continuous.

"It means your boyfriend is full of crap, Hobbit." Rachel isn't the only one whose reached they're breaking point. Santana was getting sick and tired of watching the 'Finchel' (as Finn had announced at the wedding) couple with their googly eyes and continuous PDA all the time. _How the hell did Finn end up with 'that' anyway?_ After she took his v-card Finn should have been at the top of the social ladder right next to her. "_Yet he somehow manages to fuck it all up and end up with the rest of the rodents at the bottom with Ms. Broadway. That's it! I'm taking this bitch down once and for all!"_

"You know what? Ever since the wedding you've been up my butt, and I'm sick of it!" That last straw inside Rachel was about to snap. She always knew she was a little psychic, and she could feel in her bones some shit was about to get thrown down.

"Come on Rachel, she's not worth it." _"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit" _Finn knew this was about to get ugly. Rachel and Santana have been at it since the wedding. Everything had finally reached a boiling point and was going to come spewing out. He could only brace himself for the wrath of the girl he loved more than life itself and the Cheerio who he despised the most.

"Oh really? 'Cause that's not what you thought last year in that motel room." Santana couldn't believe Finn. What the hell did he see in Rachel, seriously? If it was the last thing she did, Santana was going to finally break Rachel Berry.

"_FUCK! I knew she would do this shit to me!"_ There was no time for Finn to go over the fact that he should have come clean about Santana the moment Rachel confessed about never having sex with Jesse. He was going to have to try and salvage whatever shards of a relationship he had left before Rachel completely disowned him.

"That's right Yentil. You're sweetheart, he's been lying to you. 'Cause he and I totally got it on last year." _"Try and come back from that, Freak!"_ The look on Rachel's face told Santana this was going to be a piece of cake.

Everyone in the choir room didn't know what to do. They were hoping it would never come out. The only reason Finn ever found out about baby-gate was because of Rachel, so they just all assumed since she didn't know, they were in the clear. They should have known better.

Everyone, including Finn and Mr. Schuester braced themselves for the water works. Rachel has never had a problem storming off when the tears started flowing. She hated for people to see her in a weakened state like that. Because everyone had seen it many times before, they just assumed she would start crying, run out the choir room, cry with a dramatic break down in the bathroom and eventually forgive Finn. She _always_ forgave Finn. And secretly, deep down Finn was counting on that.

Everyone was too wrapped up in their thoughts at the moment that they didn't hear the snap. At that point if you looked around the room nothing had changed. Nothing was out of place. Nothing was _physically_ broken. The snap that no one heard was that final straw inside Rachel Barbara Berry. That one straw was what was holding the proper, lady-like, fragile girl together. Between the stress she and her dad's put on her to become the next big Broadway star, keeping a 4.0 GPA, carrying a glee club when they became too lazy, and most importantly trying to hold on to her all-American perfect boyfriend and be the epitome of what a girlfriend should be, not to mention the years of continuous taunts, slushies, and bullying had all taken their toll over time, and she just couldn't take it anymore. All of her anger and frustrations were hurled at one Latina Cheerio.

No one saw it coming really. Before Finn realized what was going on, Rachel had already knocked him out of his seat and onto the floor once she hurled herself towards Santana. Everyone sat there frozen taking the scene before them. "You fucking bitch!" Rachel had grabbed Santana by that infamous fucking ponytail she wore all the damn time and with so much force, slammed her onto the floor in front of the glee club. Usually that was the spot when Rachel shined the most, when she would belt out every solo with perfect pitch or sing her heart out with the man she loved. Today she got the spotlight, but she was sharing it with a battered and scared Santana. Once Santana was on the floor, Rachel straddled her and was landing blow after blow to Santana's previously flawless face. "You! Stupid! Evil! Maniacal! Slut!", Rachel screamed in between blows . Santana tried to flip Rachel over, but Rachel was just not having it. Rachel was clawing and scratching every part of that "Fucking Whore!" she possibly could. Santana may have had the ultimate goal of breaking Rachel, but Rachel also had a goal. To make sure Santana was so busted up, no heterosexual male within a 100 mile radius would give her the time of day.

Artie, Tina, Brittany, Mercedes, Quinn, and Sam sat gawking and frozen with shock. It's like the Rachel they knew was being possessed. Not even Finn was this bad when he found out about Puck and Quinn. Puck and Mike had decided to try and break up the fight once they realized the black strings of lint floating around and scattered on the floor weren't from Santana's letterman, but in fact coming for the wads of hair clumped in Rachel's hands. While they may have had good intentions all they got in return were punches to the chest and chiseled faces. After seeing Puck and Mike try and restrain Rachel, it snapped Mr. Schuester and Finn out of their shock induced trance. After what seemed like ages, but was probably only a couple of minutes Finn finally helped Puck and Mike get a struggling Rachel off the floor, while Mr. Schuester knelt down next to a black, blue, and bloody Cheerio. No one could believe what the hell was going on.

While Puck and Mike each had one of Rachel's arms, Finn let go of the grip he had on her waist from pulling her off of Santana, and made his way to cup Rachel's face.

"Baby, look at me.", Finn told her in a firm yet soft voice. She was still squirming a little and staring daggers at the Latina on the floor. Finn moved into her field of vision and tried again, "Rachel…baby…please look at me?" There was a little more desperation the second go round.

But that's all it took. Rachel made eye contact with her boyfriend and all the anger and frustration melted away. But once the anger and frustration were gone all that was left was hurt and emptiness. All the fight in her was gone. She immediately plopped to the floor with her hands covering her face so no one could see the tears she was fighting so hard to keep from streaming down her cheeks that were bright pink from her rage induced state and the few hits the dumb bitch actually landed on her face.

Once again all the teenagers were frozen. Sure Rachel had her diva moments, like the one she was having just a few minutes ago, before she decided to channel her inner Hulk. But no one had ever seen this Rachel before. All Finn wanted to do was hold the love of his life and make sure she knew that he loved her with every fiber of his being. So he knelt down in front of where she sat on the floor to do exactly that. But as soon as his skin made contact with her, she mustered all the energy she had and pushed him away.

"How could you do it Finn?", Rachel whispered in between her heavy breathing. "I thought I knew you better than that."

"Rach, give me a chance to explain." Finn wasn't exactly sure how he was going to explain it all, but he had to try.

Rachel managed to calm herself down a bit, enough to bring herself off the floor and to her feet. When she looked around the room, she was a bit taken back. Chairs were knocked over, her teammates looked like they just saw a ghost and on the floor was a beat down Santana. "I can't do this right now Finn.", she said while gathering her things and completely avoiding eye contact with him at first. When she finally turned and faced him, Finn looked like he wanted to say something, but Rachel cut him off before he got the chance.

"I need some time to process all this" she said pointing around the room. "I'll set up an appointment with Ms. Pillsbury and we'll take it from there." Finn let out a sigh of relief. Rachel seeing this began to continue, "I'm not making any kind of promises here Finn. We need to figure out where we're going from here." With her belongings gripped tightly to her chest, she started making her way out of the room. She knew as soon as she left the whispers and gossiping would start, along with escorting Santana to the nurse's office. She sure as hell didn't want to be around for that. Finn grasped her arm as she walked past him and immediately Rachel pulled away. "Finn…" she whispered.

"I'm so so sorry you found out like this. But I swear to God babe, I'm gonna find a way to get us through this. I love you too much to let this get between us, Rach…I love you baby." Finn said the last part in a whisper along with pleading eyes.

Rachel looked at Finn and knew that he meant it, every last word. She loved him too. Sometimes she thought it was the kind of love that was made for fairy tales and could never be broken. But even at that, Rachel couldn't bring herself to tell that to Finn. She was too hurt and too distraught. All she could manage was, "I'll see you later, Finn" and walked straight to Ms. Pillsbury's office to set an appointment for couples counseling.


End file.
